RTÉ RTÉ Radio 1

Yesterday in the Finance Bill the government announced some changes to the property tax. Revenue will now be given the power to defer payments from people who have suffered a “signficant and unexpected financial loss or expense”. However, we’re told that there will be no let up for those in negative equity. And snitching could well be back in vogue because new home buyers who find that the previous home owner undervalued the house for the property tax will be obliged to inform revenue.

Joining Pat were FG TD and Deputy Spokesperson on Enterprise and Trade Kieran O’Donnell and Fianna Fail Senator Thomas Byrne

Go to the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, the Met in New York or the Louvre and you can expect to be treated to some of archaeology’s most prized possessions, many of which were excavated from far away countries over a century ago and transported to their current home. Today, this has become a bone of contention for many of the states where these artefacts originated.

The Elgin Marbles are the subject of an ownership debate between Britain and Greece and now the Turks have weighed in, having being accused of cultural chauvinism and attempting to blackmail some world's most important museums in it demands for the return of its archaeological treasures. They have threatened to bar foreign archaeologists from excavation sites by not renewing their digging permits if governments refuse to return artefacts that they say were unlawfully removed from Turkish soil.

So is there a middle ground?

Pat was joined by former Director of the National Museum of Ireland, Pat Wallace.

With Tina Leonard

Car Servicing

Many of you will be relieved to read this morning that plans to force cars more than six years old to undergo an annual NCT have been dropped. Recently Tina Leonard was here to talk about NCT tests and we discovered, for example, that the pass / fail rate was consistently around 50 / 50 and that the complaint levels were very low at only 0.07%.

We received many comments from our listeners so Tina is back to revisit the topic.

But if you need to do so, how do you make a complaint about your NCT test? How can you prepare for it and what must you look out for when getting your car serviced.

Complaining about your NCT test

It is important that everyone knows that the NCT service has a complaints process, so do use it if needs be.

First, complain at the test centre on the day. I’m told the majority of complaints are dealt with at this point (not included in complaints stats).

If your complaint remains unresolved, you can fill out a complaint form. You can get one from the test centre or by phoning the customer service department and they’ll send one out to you. Or you can lodge your complaint by telephone to the customer service department (LoCall 1890 200 670).

An easier method is just to email your complaint to info@ncts.ie. You don’t need to use a specific form, you just need to make sure you include: car reg number; your name and contact details, name of test centre and date of test, the complaint details.

The promise is that you’ll hear back within two weeks.

If you are not happy with the outcome you are free to use the small claims service.

For example, a listener named Peter called to say that he took the NCT (Applus Ltd) to the small claims procedure and won. In 2010 his turbo diesel car was working fine and passed its NCT test. However, on driving the car out of the test centre and on to the motorway, the usually strong acceleration didn’t work, and he discovered he could only start the car in second gear. When he brought the car to a garage he was told that over-revving had blown carbon into the exhaust and that he’d have to shell out €460 on a new exhaust system. He submitted a complaint to the NCT but the response was that they had not damaged the car. So, he took small claims action against them and before his case came to court, the NCT settled for the full amount.

Appeals

The NCT also has an appeals process if you feel your car has unfairly failed. The steps are: 1) Complain at the test centre. 2) Use the complaint form as above. 3) Lodge a formal appeal (another form) with an Independent Appeals Board.

Questions / comments from listeners

Q

From Tony: My wife drives a car registered in 2003 with only 10k miles on the clock. The tyres look brand new yet at our last NCT test she was told that she will have to get new tyres for her next test.?She was told that they deteriorate after 5 years.? ?Is she obliged to have new tyres fitted?

A

Tony’s wife is not obliged to have new tyres fitted. Since last year a tester may issue what’s called a ‘fail advisory’ if the tyres are more than six years old. A ‘fail advisory’ is where the tester is giving advice on issues related to safety, but it is not a fail item. So if this car goes for the next test with the same tyres, the car wouldn’t fail on this point of age but the tester would again ‘advise’ that they should be replaced. (Bear in mind that tyre specification, tyre tread and tyre condition are the elements tested).

Comments

- John texted to say “ my car failed because they could not find the chassis number - had a row and asked why the inspector had not asked the owner or checked the logbook. They finally passed it without looking again”.

- Another listener was told to clean the rust of the chassis number on an old Mini so the tester could see it, and someone else in a Fiat Sicento says that he had a chip out of the plastic surround on a wing mirror (a fail advisory) and had to produce the car again with the offending item taped over. It passed.

- Tape was also the answer on a Japanese import car with the wrong colour reflector on a front wing (white instead of the regulation orange). When the tester could not see it the car was deemed ok.

Note: Checking that the chassis number matches the registration is part of the test. In relation to the wing, if there are any sharp edges this could be a fail item, so I imagine putting the tape over the sharp edge may render it not sharp, and therefore safe.

For those with the time and inclination, if you want to find out about the various items that must be checked during the test, you can take a look at the NCT manual (find it at www.ncts.ie). It runs to 96 pages and covers 61 items. For each named item you will find information on the methods of testing and reasons for failing.

- A listener who doesn’t wish to be named emailed, “last November my daughter got a puncture, went to a local tyre dealer to get it fixed. He informed her the tyre was old and cracked and would not pass the NCT and he would not fix it because if anything happened he might be liable. He also kindly told her all the tyres were old and she needed four new tyres. (She had bought the car six months earlier and had no idea of when the tyres were put on). She went to another garage who fixed the tyre. Last week the car passed the NCT, even though the old tyres were on it. I told this story to a number of people who had come across a similar experience of being told they need a new tyre and bought one. This is just a scam by some tyre dealers”. 

The man known as the Blade Runner Oscar Pistorius is in trouble, he has been arrested after his girlfriend was found shot dead at his home in South Africa. Pat was joined on the line by Fiona Forde from South Africa.

by Andrew Wilson (Simon & Schuster)

On 11th February 1963, Sylvia Plath folded a cloth, placed it in her gas oven, and laid her head inside having first sealed the door of her children's bedroom. She was 30 and good reviews and a growing reputation were seemingly not enough for the troubled writer. Early 2013 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of her sole novel, The Bell Jar just a few weeks prior to her death.

My next guest has written a new biography of the writer which includes new material about her life before Ted Hughes of which he says little is known called Mad Girls Love Song – Sylvia Plath and Life Before Ted.

If you are presently unemployed or you are redundant and trying to get back to work, then you may be interested in this.

Springboard is a back to work re-training scheme which was launched as part of the government’s jobs initiative in may 2011. Valerie Cox has been looking at how it works.

Gabriel Gilmartin, President of the ICMSA

Track(1) All I Can Do Is Cry, Track(2) Boogie Real Low.